


Blazing

by betweenfactandbreakfast



Series: Stranger than Earth [3]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Coping, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Infidelity, Morning After, Post-Game(s), Survivor Guilt, except there's not really a 'morning' on omega so its just after
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 03:26:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3634884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betweenfactandbreakfast/pseuds/betweenfactandbreakfast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of Nina and Aria's affair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blazing

**Author's Note:**

> I'm making this a series, and over time things will become happier. For now, though, Nina is still very much struggling with her feelings after the Reaper War.

"Well," Aria said, regarding her carefully. "That was... interesting. Was your curiosity sated as much as mine was?"

Nina thought about it. She did, in fact, feel sated, filled up to the brim for the first time in fuck knows when. It felt dizzyingly _good_. "Yeah, guess it was."

"Great," Aria said. It was all so cold, so impersonal. Nina looked down at her legs, bare and brown against the stark black and white of the couch.

Aria pulled up her omni-tool, keying something in and touching the communicator in her ear with the other hand. "Bartaz!" She barked into it. "Get me a fucking drink."

"That bad, was it?" Nina said, a little self-conscious. It had been years since she'd been with a woman, not since she'd lost Mary on Akuze.

"What?" Aria switched off the communicator. "No, don't be ridiculous. I always need a drink after melding. It's not a fuckin' walk in the park, even for me."

"I gotta say, I've never been with an asari before.” Nina commented, fishing for her panties under the sofa and pulling them on.

"I'm so pleased to have been your first asari experience, then," Aria said sarcastically.

"Well, you know. I've tried turian, thought I should expand my horizons a little."

Nina realised with a churn in her stomach that bringing up Garrus had been a mistake. Shit, Garrus. _Garrus_. She loved Garrus. What the hell was she doing?

"Ah. How is your boyfriend, anyway? Still fucking things up for my merc gangs?" Aria crossed her arms over her bare chest.

"None of your business," Nina snapped. 

"Babe, those gangs, and anyone who gets in their way- they _are_ my business. You handed them to me on a silver platter, remember?"

"How could I forget?" The things she'd done to win the war stayed with her, always, and that was the least reprehensible of them.

"I take it he doesn't know about this little... diversion."

Nina closed her eyes, shook her head in response. "We're sort of on a break. But it doesn't make a difference. I shouldn't have done this."

"Shouldn't you?" Aria said, quietly. She pulled on a long, black robe which didn't really do much of a job at covering anything up. "I saw how you looked when you came here. I've seen you, putting on your brave soldier face for the vids. You don't fool me, Shepard. And you sure as hell aren't stupid enough to fool yourself."

"God, it’s just all so fucked up," Nina said, running her fingers through her hair.

"So you come to me when you've got that emotional itch Archangel can't scratch." Aria's laugh was low, humourless. "Fucking great."

There was a buzzing at the door before Nina could reply. Aria went to answer it, returning with a Thessian temple in hand.

Nina imagined herself telling Garrus the truth- _I slept with Aria T'loak because she's the only thing that makes me feel good about anything anymore._

What a fucking mess she'd landed herself in. But still. This one was her own doing. Any pain that sprung from this was utterly her own. And that felt…. If not precisely good, then _relieving_.

Aria wandered over to her, sitting down on the couch in her usual manner. Again, so familiar. Except they were both half-naked and Aria was sipping bright blue liquid from a tall, fluted glass. Neither of them said anything until Aria finished her drink and set the glass down.

"You know," Said the Asari. "When you first walked in here, I thought for sure, the Collectors were going to kill you. And then again, when you left Omega after I reclaimed it from those Cerberus assholes, I thought the Reapers would kill you too. But here you are. Still standing. One sprightly bitch with the audacity to fuck me on my own couch."

"You don't know the half of it," Nina said. "Batarian slavers when I was eight. Thresher Maws when I was twenty. Saren and his damn geth. I should have died long ago."

"A survivor, then." Something about the way she says it reminds Nina of Sha'i'ra.

"Yeah, guess so."

"Hmm," Aria looks at her like she's x-raying her heart; it's intensely nerve-wracking, being seen, being understood.

"God," Nina says again.

Aria leans forward to kiss her, tantalizingly soft- very different from her previous kisses. With a small sigh, Nina closed her eyes, let herself breathe it in. But before she really could, Aria pulled back.

"You wanted that," She observed. "You want me. Still."

"Well, you are pretty hot." Nina pointed out awkwardly.

"The day I realised just surviving isn't enough is the day I conquered Omega." Aria said, ignoring the comment. "It looks like you've figured that out, so why punish yourself, Shepard? Why let yourself waste away? You're a damn hero, aren't you?"

"Because there's no point to me anymore." Nina said. "I was born- all those things happened to me because I had to be who I am stop the Reapers, at any cost. I had to be the bitch that could do that. Nobody else could."

"That's bullshit." Aria snorted. "And do you remember who you're talking to? I'm not the best person for your damn moral crisis."

"You tell it like it is, at least. Nobody else does that for me."

Aria smiled, narrowing her eyes like a cat. "Look, Shepard, you're the type of emotional picnic I wouldn't normally attend, but- I'll fuck you whenever. If it helps you with your... issues."

"Christ, your altruism is the stuff of legend." Nina said sarcastically.

"I try." Aria folded her hands over her stomach. "But seriously- why not? We both get something out of it."

"What the fuck do you get out of this?" Nina said doubtfully.

"A good lay? You have so much... anger, and so little inhibition. I'm curious to see where this goes."

"And?" She knew Aria, and that couldn't be all. Aria was always working the angles.

"And, I get the Council in my bed." Aria thought about it "More in my bed."

"Plus it's Commander Shepard, which I imagine is a lot more noteworthy than Councillor Tevos."

"Oh, Tevos has considerable sway over asari politics. More than you’d think. Clever girl." Aria said. "But you're right. You're still the key player in galactic politics. I won't lie, I'll press you to my advantage any way I can."

"Shit," Murmured Nina, running fingers through her tangled hair.

"But I guarantee you'll like it." Aria said, lips curling into a smirk. "And as fun as this has been, I have things to take care of. As do you, I'm sure. "

Nina stood up. "Yeah. Like a stiff drink."

"Anything you want at Afterlife is on the house."

"Ha. Well, that's something." Nina said, pulling on her skirt and boots.

Aria grabbed her arm, kissed her again. Feeling blazed in the pit of Nina’s stomach at her touch.

 “I mean it when I say this was fun, Shepard. I’ll see you soon.” Said the asari, releasing her.  

“Yeah, you probably will.” Nina said with a sigh. Her arm, her lips still bore shadowy imprints of that kiss as she left the room.


End file.
